An older Indian gentleman asked for my business card at The Arts Club Dubai. He wanted to learn magic. Of all the things I enjoyed about performing there that September, his curiosity is the detail I keep returning to.
It is lovely when someone enjoys a performance. When they want to try it themselves, the conversation takes a different turn. I liked the thought that something he had seen might lead him towards a new interest. I hope the card becomes a reason for another conversation.
The setting made that exchange feel particularly fitting. The Arts Club’s beginnings go back to London in 1863, as a meeting place for people interested in art, literature and science. Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Auguste Rodin are among its historical members. There is a great deal of creative curiosity in that history.
The Dubai club opened in DIFC in 2020 as its first international outpost. As someone who loves films, books and performance, I found that background fascinating. I liked arriving somewhere with such a long connection to people gathering around the things they make and enjoy.
I was there to perform in September, as my event calendar was beginning to pick up after a quieter period. It felt good to be back meeting people and doing the part of the job I had missed most.
I particularly enjoy performing for small groups. You can notice an expression, listen to a comment and let the next moment develop around the people in front of you. The performance has room for conversation, and I can give someone my attention without wondering whether a person across a ballroom has seen what happened.
That closeness also asks more of me. Timing matters, but so does knowing when to leave a little space. I want people to feel comfortable taking part, and I enjoy discovering how a familiar piece of magic feels with a different group. There is always something to respond to.
The gentleman’s request brought together two pleasures of the evening: performing at close quarters and meeting someone with an interest of his own. I was pleased he asked. Wanting to learn a skill is a good impulse at any age, and I would be delighted if he follows it.
I cannot know where that interest will take him. Perhaps we will talk again; perhaps the card will simply remind him of an evening when he considered trying something new. Either possibility gives me a reason to remember the exchange fondly.
I went to The Arts Club knowing a little of its history. I came away with a much smaller story of my own: a gentleman who wanted to learn, and a business card that might help him begin.